


Odysseus’ Illiad

by Tharapita



Series: The Odyssey What-Ifs [2]
Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, The Odyssey - Homer
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Its all a lie, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:56:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25536196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tharapita/pseuds/Tharapita
Summary: What if the events of Troy were very different from how we feel they were? What if what we know is just the creation of one very crafty Odysseus’ tongue?
Relationships: Odysseus/Penelope, Odysseus/Penelope (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)
Series: The Odyssey What-Ifs [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1850317
Kudos: 3





	Odysseus’ Illiad

Odysseus was a coward, and not the legendary warrior all hoped and pressed him to be. Even as a child, he would use tricks and traps to put on the image his father so wished of him, while slipping away to listen to the bard, his true calling. After all, it took only three hearings to recite the entirety of Hercules' tale. And so, by the time Agamemnon came to call upon his services, Odysseus was already trapped into a double life, a coward wearing the disguise of a legendary wit and trickster. 

5 long years the Trojan War resounded around Odysseus, living each day convinced it was his last, especially as his mask cracked and his prestige shrunk day by day. Then, Greek defences broke, Trojans swarmed in and massacred all. Odysseus, a coward and trickster to the last, played dead in the corner of his own tent and shook at each footfall and scream he heard. That morning, dawn's fingers were stained red with Greek blood, and as Odysseus scampered away in the murky light, he saw every Greek dead, and every Trojan warrior sick with blood. And so, with every Trojan warrior exhausted from the massacre, the malleable trickster slunk through Troy's open gate, and out shone the sun with the blazing of Troy. He walked away, face shaded by the hood of his cloak, while Troy burned and soldiers wailed at their disastrous victory.

With nothing to his name and no-one to recognise the face of the minor, wily warrior Odysseus, he peddled the stories he had learnt as a boy. The bard was well received, and soon made it to the tables of kings. He travelled, spending 15 years just telling tales ancient and new. And obviously people wanted to hear the story of Troy, and who could blame him for embellishing it slightly. After all, a nice round 10 years was more exciting, as were gods and a made-up invulnerable warrior. So too was the wily advisor, and especially his wooden horse. What man wouldn't increase his prestige, just a little, when he had been such a small player in reality? He really hadn't expected his version of the tale to so outshine reality, and be so popular to the point where removing the fantasies had him hounded out as a liar. 

So, 15 years after the end of a 5 year long war, he started going by Odysseus again, again a legendary hero, and sailed at last towards Ithaca. That Alcinous and Arete asked him where he'd been the 10 years after the fall of Troy, and, by his reasoning, shouldn't so great a hero as he have a reason for dragging his heels going home? Perhaps he got carried away with THAT story; monsters like that really couldn't, shouldn't and didn't exist, but after a lifetime of passing himself off as a legend through any means possible, where was he to draw the line? So, as he finally arrived home to Penelope's arms, the truth slipped away like sand from a fist, and the coward remained ever hidden in legend's disguise.

**Author's Note:**

> I studied the Odyssey at school, and it always interested me how Odysseus is very strange for using his brain over his fists among Greek heroes. So what if there was more to it than it first appears?


End file.
